WELL; Vital Signs: Risks: Checking Antidepressant Use in Pregnancy

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

Published: April 10, 2012

Taking antidepressants during pregnancy raises the risk of high blood pressure in expectant mothers, a new study shows.

Antidepressants are one of the most commonly used medications in pregnancy, and hypertension can cause problems for both mother and child. About one in five women suffer from depression during pregnancy, and up to 14 percent of those women end up using an antidepressant medication to treat it.

Though the drugs are commonly prescribed to pregnant women, there has not been much research on the effect they can have on a mother's health.

The new study, published in The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, looked at more than 13,000 pregnant women, 1,200 of whom had pregnancy-induced hypertension with no history of the condition before they became pregnant. The researchers found that women taking antidepressants of any kind had a 53 percent greater risk of high blood pressure. Those who were taking Paxil, which belongs to the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, saw their risk rise even higher, by 81 percent.

Though those numbers sound high, it's important to note that the absolute risk from taking these drugs remained low. Antidepressants raised a woman's absolute risk of hypertension from 2 percent to 3.2 percent, and Paxil raised it from 2 percent to 3.6 percent.

Still, the findings show that women taking antidepressants while pregnant should be aware of the risk, and weigh that against the benefits, said Dr. Anick Berard, the lead author of the study and director of the research unit on medications and pregnancy at Ste. Justine's Hospital in Montreal.

''It's a very tricky situation for physicians and women themselves,'' she said. ''But if there's more benefit, then I would suggest take the medication, monitor the pregnancy and make sure that everything goes accordingly.''

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.